The present invention relates to a drive device for an aircraft, a method for driving an aircraft, as well as the use of a drive device in an aircraft and an aircraft having a drive device.
The percentage of air traffic currently makes up a small percentage of the worldwide petroleum consumption and air pollution. However, this percentage increases with the reduction of other air-contaminating modes of transport and the increase of air traffic. In addition, the current civil commercial aircraft have come to a point in their improvement potential and development potential at which slight improvements may be achieved only by very great effort.
Therefore, the attempt is being made either to make the harmful gases of the aircraft drives more environmentally compatible through specific types of fuel or to reduce the fuel consumption through specific drive systems.
On one hand, aircraft having mixed drives are known for reducing the pollutants. The propulsion of the aircraft is achieved by a combination of various engines and/or drive units. Current combinations are, for example, reciprocating engines and jet engines, reciprocating engines and rocket engines, jet engines and rocket engines, or turbojet engines and ramjet engines. These mixed drives have been implemented, for example, in the experimental aircraft Mikojan-Gurewitsch MiG-13 or the Nord 1500 Griffon. Every mixed drive has multiple drive units having an associated engine. A reciprocating engine has a piston engine for generating drive energy and an air propeller, for example, while the jet engine has a combustion chamber for generating drive energy and a compressor. If propulsion using one drive unit, such as the reciprocating engine, is not required, the air propeller stops in the air flow and generates an air resistance.
Furthermore, fuel-cell technology is known for generating electrical energy, from which electrical energy and water may be generated from a hydrogen-containing fuel and an oxidant.